Russia claims the application for expansion of Danish borders in the Arctic shelf

Russia has a number of substantive comments on the justification for the request of Denmark to expand the boundaries of the shelf in the Arctic, including the use of Russian geological information, according to the Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy. Russia comments relate mostly to the application of the Danish research, which used in large part the Russian geological materials. Their documents were prepared to support country’s bid to expand the boundaries of the Arctic shelf and opened for analysis for reasonableness. The application for expansion of the Arctic shelf

“We are talking not only to the UN Committee, but also with the countries that border on us, with Denmark, Canada”, said the Natural Resources Minister of Russia, Sergey Donskoy. “While we have questions to Denmark. The specialists of the Ministry of Environment were in Copenhagen in December and they presented the preliminary concept. In addition, comments were submitted with regard to their application. We showed where we disagree quite seriously”, added he.

The other countries making claims to various sections of seabed in Arctic Ocean are Norway, Canada, Denmark, and USA. The interests of Canada and Denmark in the Arctic Ocean overlap with Russia’s interests and the three countries have not eliminated their contradictions to date. For instance, the sections of shelf to the north of Greenland, which Denmark listed in its claim in December 2014, overlap considerably with the areas claimed by Russia, including the North Pole and a part of the Lomonosov Ridge.

It is not ruled out that Canada’s claim for expansion of its shelf may also list a number of overlapping sections. The Canadian authorities announced on July 22 the country was launching research for a further expansion of its shelf and experts say the country may file the final bid already in 2018.

Russia in August 2015 sent to the UN Commission for an extension of the continental shelf in the Arctic for 1.2 million sq km. Consideration of the application to the UN Commission may take 3-5 years. But Russia wants to speed up consideration of the application, since the summer of 2017 can upgrade the UN Commission. The update occurs every 10 years.